Shen Wei, Jenn, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2006,
Courtesy
of the Artist
An examination of the
situation in China today is only one aspect of the works in the
exhibition, however. Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win owes its title
to the legendary Little Red Book - it's the title of the seventh chapter
of the Mao Bible
from 1966. With slogans like "People of the world unite and defeat the US
aggressors and all their running dogs!", it dedicates itself to the
struggle against US imperialism. Over four decades later, the quotes of
the "great Chairman's"
words and the ideological wars he fought seem like relics of a bygone era.
China has radically transformed since then, and the competition between
the two countries has shifted to the economic realm. And the Chinese art
scene is profiting from the rapidly rising economy and a new class of
wealthy collectors.
Shen
Wei, Jenn, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2006,
Courtesy
of the Artist
The 60 Wall Street Gallery is
uninterested in promoting secure positions. Instead, it presents ambitious
new talent in the process of establishing itself on the New York scene.
Questions of identity often form the center of their works. In his series
of C-prints titled Almost Naked, Shen
Wei, for instance, shows a wide spectrum of people ranging from
priests to transvestites. The elegiac images impart a feeling of
melancholy and despair that all his protagonists seem to share, despite
their many differences regarding background, age, or status.
Shen
Wei, Jan, Mason, Texas, 2005 , Digital C-Print
Courtesy
of the Artist
|
On the other hand, Eric
Jiaju Lee combines traditional Chinese painting techniques with
western abstraction. Inspired by both science and science fiction, he
creates organic forms resembling the nervous system and cellular
structures that move within the indefinable space between micro- and
macrocosm.
Eric
Jiaju Lee, Beyond 7 and 10, 2007
Courtesy
of the Artist
Alexander
Lee,Tere-he Overcome by Numbness, 2007, THE DEPARTURE OF THE FISH: REDUX,
Courtesy of the Artist and Clementine Gallery
Alexander
Lee immerses himself in mythical structures. Three generations ago,
his family left China and resettled in Tahiti. Lee, who studied fashion
design in Paris and art in New York, worked as Matthew
Barney's studio manager. Like Barney, Lee also prefers to use unusual
materials: dark volcanic sand, slag, and epoxy resin. In his surreal
sculptures, he works through memories of the black beaches of his youth in
Tahiti, the creation myth of the South Sea island, or a tragic airplane
crash along its coast. Blue crystals blossom on the body of a mermaid;
shells collect on severed legs.
Shih
Chieh Huang, BSB- K, 2007
Courtesy
Virgil de Voldere Gallery
In contrast, Shih
Chieh Huang merely needs a simple K-Mart bag and a fan run by a
computer for his work BSB-K. The plastic bag inflates and then
collapses again, resembling a strange organism. His proliferating
installations on show at last year's Biennale in Venice consist of cheap
or found materials that celebrate the beauty of the profane in a
remarkable way.
Even if the works in Dare to Struggle, Dare to
Win give what is often a highly subjective overview, the exhibition
presents a challenge to stereotypical notions - not merely of Chinese art.
"The artists included in (the show) thus represent the new voice of
China," says Eric C. Shiner, "and beyond that, the fully internationalized
identity of Asia."
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